In Texas, it has often varied with what else is going on. If the oilfield is depressed, welders are a dime a dozen and can be had with rig to stick weld for $25/hour. If the oilfield is busy, the rig will cost up to $50/hr.

Really good TIG welders in this area command $75/hr or more but that is typically specialty work that is X-Ray or other trick stuff that the average Joe can't do.

I get $50/hr for specialty work out of my shop but I do TIG, machining and small industrial forging.

i charge 36 per hour, and won't do call out work for less than a 100$. i don't do this full time by any means, i came up with the 36 an hour because 36 sounds like it has a reason behind it, like it was calculated, the idea being that the client isn't as likely to balk when he doesn't think you're pulling a number out of thin air.. then again i have no certs whatsoever, just a company name to put on the letterhead. i think i might be one of those people that think they can weld and could be talked down to a six pack of beer. definitely charge more for stainless and aluminum. if you are working for oil/gas industry you'd be amazed what you can charge. even if welders are a dime a dozen, good ones are almost always hard to find. if you make friendly with the foreman often times they will request you personally or call you directly instead of going through staffing agencies. relatively unskilled welders through agencies are often paid around 13$ an hour while the agency charge 50-60$ an hour for them. straight stick welding with little to no english speaking skills.
lots of companies don't really care how much it costs so long as it gets done quickly. so far my advice would be play it by ear. plant thats shut down until you fix something? charge alot. someone brings you a broken lawn chair, a friend of a friend of a friend needs a gate hinge fixed. it all depends on the situation.

Welding is part of my machining business, although not full time yet. I only do Tig welding at home but I get quite a bit of it. Rate depends on the material and how complicated it is, if its really easy fusion welding I charge a bit less. Sometimes I charge per part. After doing a bunch I end up with a set price. If I manage to get faster then good for me. I mostly only do stainless and aluminium. Filler and gas is quite expensive so my rate is between $40 and $60. When I do the bill they don't know how long it took me. I just keep it fair and people are happy. I never had any customer ask me about my rates yet.

The other night (Friday) I did a small stainless MIG repair at a restaurant in a large mall. I had to do it after-hours otherwise I would be in everybody's way in the kitchen. I told the owner no way I'm doing it when you're open and people are tripping over me. He said OK.

So, I did it. Not including travel, 15-20 minutes from my house, the job took me an hour (not including wheeling my MIG/tools in and out of the mall). I cut a small piece of my own stainless - about the size of a nickel - for the repair and MIGed it in with a small Hobart MIG that I set up with 308 and Tri-Mix gas. Worked great.

What's this worth? I need to invoice them. I'm thinking $60 for the service call, $60.00 for one hour labor and $20 for consumables.

Personally, I never invoice restaurants- I always take it out in trade.
I used to have a few restaurants I would do work for- build shelves, fix broken things, even complete remodels and building new furniture, and there is nothing better than having a tab at the restaurant, and taking someone out to eat and just saying "charge it to my account".
I did a sign last year for a high end deli/wine store, and boy, was I sad when that tab finally got used up.

So, $140 for the whole job, after hours at the mall, and their problem is solved? They did better than you, but you did ok. They'll remember your name next time they need help. Maybe they'll pass the word. A few more of those a week and you'll be rolling in tall cotton.

I do work at a large chain of resturants(not fast food). I charge 50/hr for the first hour then 40 there after. I do general repairs, nothing extremly specialized. but, If i was to bring in a welder and repair one of there peices of equipment I would certainly charge much more then that. I would probably charge 75 like some of the other people here. Welders, wire, gas, helmets and gloves all have to be paid for, not to mention your time. I mark everything I buy up atleast 25%. You could even charge them a rental for the peice of equipment. I do that when i need to rent something I dont own.

I dont think you should charge a service charge fee then an hour fee. I would probably just charge a min, say 2 hour min or make your first hour higher to cover travel and what not.

I can tell you one thing, the chain I work for, one resturant makes anywhere from $30,000-$50,000/week, Im their smallest bill im sure. Not to mention youre saving them thousands by repairing their old equipment over them having to buy a new one.

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